Military of Costa Rica
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
On December 1, 1948, President José Figueres Ferrer of Costa Rica abolished the country's army after victory in the civil war in that year. In a ceremony in the Cuartel Bellavista, Figueres broke a wall with a mallet symbolizing the end of Costa Rica's military spirit. In 1949, the abolition of the military was introduced in the Article 12 of the Costa Rican Constitution. However, the Civil Guard is equipped and uniformed as a military force, with military ranks, and is required by statute to become the national army in the event of the country being invaded by an external force.[1]
The budget previously dedicated to the military now is dedicated to security, education and culture; the country maintains Police Guard forces. The museum Museo Nacional de Costa Rica was placed in the Cuartel Bellavista as a symbol of commitment to culture.
In 1986, President Oscar Arias Sánchez declared December 1 as the Día de la Abolición del Ejército (Military abolition day) with Law #8115.
Unlike its neighbors, Costa Rica has not endured a civil war since 1948.
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[edit] Ministry of Public Security's Public Force
During 1996, the Ministry of Public Security established the Fuerza Pública or Public Force which reorganized and eliminated the Civil Guard, Rural Assistance Guard, and Frontier Guards as separate entities; they are now under the Ministry and operate on a geographic command basis performing ground security, law enforcement, counter-narcotics, and border patrol functions.
[edit] Guardia Civil
The Guardia Civil is the largest branch of the Fuerza Pública and is responsible for the defense of the nation in addition to its law enforcement duties. The Civil Guard is an all volunteer force commanded by a Colonel as Director. The Civil Guard acts as an municipal police and a military force. There are over 6,000 men in the Civil Guard and they are organized into seven small battalion-sized companies, one per province, They are:
- Alajuela
- Cartago
- Guanacaste
- Heredia
- Limón
- Puntarenas
- San José
and three battalions:
- Presidential Guard
- Northern Border Security Battalion aka Border Patrol (Patrulla Fronteriza)- 750 men operational on the Nicaraguan border, formed in May of 1985 by combining 1st and 2nd companies.
- COIN or Counterinsurgency Battalion
- Special Intervention Unit (Unidad de Intervenciones Especiales) (UIE). Established in the mid-1980's and is between 60 and 80 men strong. Tasked with hostage rescue, VIP protection and conducting high-risk criminal raids and arrests. The unit makes use of 11-man assault teams, each divided into subteams of 3-4 men each. In addition, they have a small sniper element used for observation and fire support. The UIE is located in the 1st Civil Guard facilities in San José. They have received a great deal of training from a wide variety of sources, including Israel, Panama, USA, Argentina, and Spain.
- Coastguard of 250 with several patrol boats
- Air Unit with a dozen light aircraft and helicopters
There also is the 3,000 man National Reserve, the General Staff and enough equipment, mostly small arms, for 10,000 reservists.
[edit] Other units
- Rural Guard (Guardia de Asistencia Rural) or (GAR) (aka locally as rurales) of 3,500 performs rural police duties.
- Organization for Justice Investigations (Organismo de Investigación Judicial) or (OIJ) is the judicial police.
- Metro police (Policía metro) are responsible for public safety within the downtown San José Greater Metropolitan Area.
[edit] Uniforms and equipment
The Service uniform of the FP is blue but, typical of Latin American forces, the Civil Guard is easily mistaken for American troops in the field as they wear a mixture of US supplied OG-107's, M1967 jungle fatigues, Woodland pattern fatigues to include BDU's. The uniforms are often worn on combination. A white edged black rectangular patch is worn over the left breast pocket. It bears the large letters CR with "Guardia" over "Civil". A name tag is worn over the right breast. Headgear consists of US M1964 olive-green baseball cap, a boonie hat, a M-1 steel or kevlar helmet. ALICE webbing is also worn.
The Northern Border Security battalion wears a black crescent with yellow lettering bearing the name "Benicio" on the right shoulder.
[edit] Ranks
Officers wear US style gold and silver ranks on the right collar and headgear and US Army branch insignia on the left collar. The other ranks wear yellow on green chevrons on both sleeves. These are as follows:
- Sargento primera clase - three chevrons and one rocker
- Sargento - three chevrons
- Cabo - two chevrons
- Raso primera clase - one chevron
- Raso - no chevrons
[edit] Weapons and equipment
Weapons include M-16s, M1 carbines and Garands and other older weapons such as the Beretta Model 38 9mm submachine gun.
[edit] Aircraft inventory
The Guardia Civil operates 11 aircraft on government support, law enforcement, and paramilitary duties.
| Aircraft | Origin | Type | Versions | In service[2] | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aero Commander |  United States |
utility transport | 695 | 1 | |
| Cessna 206 | United States |
utility | 206G | 2 | |
| Cessna 207 | United States |
utility | 1 | ||
| de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou |  Canada |
tactical transport | 1 | ||
| MD Helicopters MD 500 | United States |
utility helicopter | MD 500E | 2 | |
| Piper PA-31 | United States |
utility | 3 | ||
| Piper PA-34 | United States |
utility | PA-34-200T | 1 |
[edit] References
- ^ Set out in detail here, particularly from page 2 onwards.
- ^ "World Military Aircraft Inventory", Aerospace Source Book 2007, Aviation Week & Space Technology, January 15, 2007.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- El Espíritu del 48: Abolición del Ejército A brief history and facts of the abolishment of the military in Costa Rica
- Museo Nacional de Costa Rica
- History of the Museum
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